Hollywood Ending? Will the Weinsteins Buy Miramax Back From Disney?

The Weinstein brothers, Harvey and Bob, founded Miramax in 1979 and built it into an Oscar-winning machine and the leading independent motion picture distribution company in the world. The brothers Weinstein, in need of cash to fund Miramax's expansion into production, sold the company to Disney in 1993, but they remained as the despotic heads of the studio. The marriage, that few observers thought would last, ended bitterly in 2005 with the Weinsteins pushed out. The brothers went on to form the Weinstein Company, an independent studio that has struggled financially but earned 13 Oscar nominations in 2010 for movies including “Inglourious Basterds” and “Nine.” Now, in a reversal of fortune worthy of a Hollywood movie, the Weinstein brothers are reportedly seeking around $1 billion from hedge funds to buy their old studio back from the Walt Disney Company.